Taking on the Anti-Aging Movement

In a society that worships youth, my wrinkles, white hair, sagging breasts and flabby upper arms render me unacceptable. The anti-aging industry to the rescue! 

A typical older woman’s body that the anti-aging industry would “fix” with surgery, drastic dieting and more!

If I go in for plastic surgery, facial fillers, hair dye, beauty creams and medical supplements, I can defy nature, while stuffing the pockets of the anti-aging fat cats, on target to make $331 billion by year’s end.

I’m resisting the siren call of the anti-aging market because I’m a proponent of aging naturally.  I’m not ashamed of being old.

I want to enjoy my later years. I don’t want to make myself crazy searching for a postmodern fountain of youth.  I’m sick of receiving emails, offering bargains for a brow lift, buttocks enhancement or a diet that will make me feel like 25.

On close examination the anti-aging movement is another attempt to deny death where anti-aging becomes anti-death.  What insanity considering we’re all going to die some day!

        Botox drives the AntiAging market

Anti-aging physicians look on aging as a disease.

I got into a small argument with a doctor friend on this topic.  He said he doesn’t like the term “anti-aging” either but does believe that medical interventions like the (sometimes controversial) hormone replacement for osteoporosis can often guarantee a longer, healthier life. I considered this position but countered that there are too many docs and beauty emporiums that prey on the insecure older woman by promising beauty creams and treatments that take away the years, but in reality are a new form of snake oil.  The cosmetic industry is largely unregulated. Those expensive night creams might not be safe, let along make a difference.

Expensive night creams may have dubious results and are often unregulated

I consider my aging regime quite sufficient and not in need of the excessive measures promoted by social media.  I follow a healthy diet, exercise, and meditate while occasionally splurging on a massage or facial.  So dear world please take me as I am and don’t try to make me feel ashamed of my aging.

I take comfort in anti-aging detractors, like Dr. S. Jay Olshansky, a longevity specialist and professor at the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Here’s his response to the anti-aging movement:

It’s easy to get seduced into the claim that there is something called anti-aging medicine. . . . . Exercise is about the only equivalent of a fountain of youth that exists today.  It improves skin elasticity, muscle tone, bone density and it is pretty much free.

Olshansky gets even more direct:

While many of today’s anti-aging practitioners have their patients’ health and best interests in mind, others are not far removed from the dollar-chasing hucksters of the past. . . . .  I am optimistic that something is going to happen and happen soon that will allow us to slow the biological process.  But it is not anything that is out there today.”

My urgent prayer is for older women to conquer their insecurities about aging where they take pride in their wisdom years. Dismiss aging Hollywood stars that go under the knife so often that their faces look frozen.  Instead remind yourself of celebrities, who age with spunk, without visiting a plastic surgeon:  women like Judi Dench, Maggie Smith and the recently deceased French director, Agnes Varda.

A favorite role model, Agnes Varda (1928-2019), French film director who aged naturally with gusto.

Never ever forget all the richness you hold inside.  Your soulful beauty glows with the life experience denied to the young.  Be a proud older woman! Luxuriate in your inner richness that can’t be bottled. Hold your head high as you celebrate your serenity, wisdom, grace and zest for life.

A circle of friends, all aging naturally.